Collin McHugh Shut Down For Six Weeks

Astros righty Collin McHugh has been shut down for six weeks with a posterior impingement of his right elbow, the team has announced. An MRI did not reveal problems with his ulnar collateral ligament. McHugh will avoid surgery and will be reevaluated after six weeks. McHugh had begun the season on the DL due to right shoulder tendinitis, and he was pulled from a Triple-A rehab start earlier this week with elbow discomfort.

The 29-year-old McHugh posted a 4.34 ERA with 8.6 K/9 and 2.6 BB/9 in 184 2/3 innings with the Astros last year, continuing a solid three-year run that began when he posted a 2.73 ERA and finished fourth in AL Rookie Of The Year voting after the Astros claimed him from the Rockies in the 2013-14 offseason. He was set to open 2017 once again in the Houston rotation. In his absence, the Astros will continue to rely on their depth, with both Joe Musgrove and Mike Fiers joining Dallas Keuchel, Lance McCullers and Charlie Morton. There’s also Chris Devenski and long reliever Brad Peacock, both of whom have MLB starting experience.

In Triple-A Fresno, the Astros also have top prospect Francis Martes, although they might like him to get some experience at that level before joining the big-league rotation. Righty Brady Rodgers also appears to be a reasonable depth option.

Significant trades rarely occur this early in the season, so it stands to reason that the Astros might wait before making a huge move to replace McHugh. It’s worth noting, though, that they were connected to the White Sox’ Jose Quintana throughout the offseason and have more than enough young talent to complete a major trade. In lieu of that, it perhaps wouldn’t be surprising if they attempted some sort of minor transaction to round out their starting pitching depth.

2014 world series included the Royals and the Giants… Neither made significant uprgrades. The Astros made significant upgrades this off-season on the hitting side, and their starting rotation is severly underrated around here (its projected to be the 8th best in the MLB) I’m not sure why ChiSox fans have such vitriol for the Astros,

Its ok if the Astros dont want Q. A real team will go and get him. If the Astros fans dont want to give up the specs than have fun getting bounced in a WC game or NLDs. The Rangers should go for him while there is blood in the water.

It all depends on the situation (of the team and the competition that year). To quote Theo ‘…if not now, then when?…’

What most people do not realize from last year is that the Giants and Nationals both could have made significant leaps by acquiring Chapman (imagine the 2016 Giants with Chapman as their closer).

In ‘over(?)’ paying for Chapman, not only did the Cubs get better, but it prevented their top competitors from making the same move (ie, by default they got worse).

Not a ‘strategy’ per se, but there are situations where it can make sense… (even if Gleybar becomes a superstar)..

… in the case of Houston, Quintana might make sense, although (if they have enough starting pitching to not blow the 1st half), I would wait to see which teams perform poorly and might add more (lower cost) options to the market

The Astros getting Quintana is highly unlikely. As much as the White Sox fans covet the likes of Martes, Paulino, and Tucker the deal is unlikely to occur. The higher likelihood if the Astros ARE contenders is that they give Martes a shot. The Astros are growing pitchers who look durable. They have a low likelihood of trading a durable pitcher, even if he would be low in the rotation.

It’s as easy as this. Martes will get called up mid-June and have 5 starts or so before the deadline to prove himself. If he doesn’t, expect a trade for a #2 or 3. We will not be giving up tucker and I believe the astros want McCullers